Monday, January 18, 2016

BBC's dehumanization of Israeli terrorist victim Dafna Meir

Israel supporters have become so used to anti-Israel bias by the BBC (and the rest of the main stream media) that some of the worst examples - like the BBC's online report on the terrorist attack that killed Dafna Meir - pass by unnoticed (BBC Watch did report it but did not expose the points below). Indeed, since most terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians go completely unreported, there was some 'satisfaction' in the fact that the murder was reported at all (but note: it was not
mentioned in any TV or radio broadcast and you will find it extremely hard to find the above article on the BBC website if you did not have the link or the exact title text to search for).

But let's dig a little deeper into the headline and the article itself and note the following systematic tricks that are now so standard that we simply accept them as 'normal' to the extent that we have become anaesthetized to it and fail to see that the aim of these is to delegitimize Israel and dehumanize Israeli civilians:

By making "settlement house" a key feature of the headline the BBC is notifying its readers that any Israeli victim there is a 'legitimate' target as it has consistently preached the (flawed) narrative that 'settlements are illegal'.

The headline not only fails to tell us that Dafna was killed in her own HOME but makes it clear it does not recognise the house as
her home. Settlers are not really 'human beings', so they do not have 'homes'.

While the headline makes sure to name the 'settlement' it does not name the victim Dafna. To name her would be to make her 'human'. But nor doesher name appear anywhere in the report (UPDATE: The report has now added her name). This BBC trick applies uniquely to Israeli victims. In any report of a single terrorist victim anywhere in the world where the victim was known, the name of the victim would be given. The BBC always gives the names of Muslim 'victims of Israeli violence' and even gives the names of terrorists when they are known (usually these are one and the same people) but never Israeli victims.

Since the BBC refuses to name Israeli victims for fear of humanising them, it means that they never report anything about the victim - so here readers must not be told how Dafna was a loving mother of 6 children - two of whom she adopted - and worked as a nurse in Beersheva where she treated Arab and Jewish patients with love and care (see Dafna's own poem about her life).

BBC does not even categorically accept the report of the incident to be true. Indeed it is qualified in both the photo caption text and the main text by "The Israeli Army says...". This is a consistent trick used only against Israel. Since the BBC continually accuses the Israel Army of various forms of misbehaviour, the implication is that the entire report may be made up. In contrast, when Hamas and other terrorist organisations claim (normally falsely) that civilians have been killed by Israel, the BBC never states "Hamas claims" but reports it is an uncontested fact.

When terrorists are killed while committing attacks the BBC always uses the text "Israel kills..Palestinians" in its headline, but Palestinians are never mentioned as being the perpetrators of a terrorist act. So from the headline nobody (except those who know a lot about Israel) will have any idea who 'stabbed to death' this woman. Maybe it was her husband or a Thai worker (and yes those ludicrous claims have actually been used by Israeli haters in many previous similar cases, such as the Fogel family massacre).

Whereas in any other single victim terrorist attack the photo for the story would be the face of the victim - the BBC refuses to do this for Israelis. Again this would 'humanise' them, especially as in this case the victim was a beautiful young woman.

Instead of a photo of the victim we have a photo of Israeli soldiers which, along with the caption, reinforces the BBC's (false) narrative that Israeli is a militarized society whose main objective is to hunt down Palestinians.

The main text in the report focuses on the 'militarised' response of the Israelis so as to emphasize the narrative of the previous point.

The
BBC refuses to describe the full horror of the attack - that Dafna was
killed in front of her children and that only because of her struggles
and screams was the terrorist stopped from further killing - or the
context whereby the Palestine Authority has been inciting its people to
carry out exactly this type of attack to murder Jews and where such attacks are wildly celebrated. Above all else the BBC must never let its readers know about the viciousness and antisemitic hatred of the 'poor Palestinians'.

I have made a formal complaint to the BBC based on the above.

Finally, since you will not see this in the main stream media here is a poem that Dafna's family wanted to share:

PLEASE SHARE (Anat): Imagine growing up in a broken home; Imagine finding a new adoptive family; Imagine growing up, Going to school, Becoming a nurse, Treating people in pain; Imagine getting married; Imagine having four children; Imagine adopting two more. Imagine dreaming about finding and providing a home, and Finally, Living your dreams.

Then imagine a terrorist breaking into your home And Stabbing, All these dreams. To death. Rest In Peace Daphna Meir.

11 comments:

Anonymous
said...

The BBC should be ashamed that it decided not to report a tragic event in a professional and unbiased manner, given the status it holds within the media. Dafna Meir was an amazing lady.....How sad that a teenager murdered her because his education is filled with hate and indoctrination to kill. The millions given by the west to help Palestians is clearly not being used to change their lives, only to build more tunnels, provide arms to murder Jews and to educate their young children to hate......

The BBC has never been unbiased in it's reportage of activity in the Mid East particularly where it concerns the Israeli Palestinian conflict. It's not 'new' - that the BBC slants reporting incidents while trying to show itself as even handed. Nor is this the first time that Palestinians (especially young teenagers) find an easy victim in undefended women: either in their homes or even walking on a street in (west) Jerusalem. The PLA and HAMAS do everything to demonize and encourage violence and it's taught within their own school system. Has the BBC even done a program that faces THAT fact squarely?

Because I've been an anglophile most of my life it pains me to see the BBC bring disgrace upon itself, and the country. I've also been somewhat religious and remember G-d telling Abraham the He will bless those who bless his decedents, and curse those who likewise curse his decedents. Because British anti-Semitism has been so entwined within their society I wonder if their "Muslim problem" could be part of divine retribution? I guess we'll know for sure if churches there start becoming mosques.

"The woman killed in Otniel has been identified as Dafna Meir, a mother in her late 30s." BBC Report at link above. I think this is less of a conspiracy to dehumanise Israelis and more a case of the news coming out in dribs and drabs so that initially the BBC did not have the name of the victim.

It is also relevant that the woman was murdered in Otniel. Yehuda Joshua Glick (Hebrew: יהודה גליק‎; born 20 November 1965) is an American-born Israeli rabbi who campaigns for expanding Jewish access to the Temple Mount. While not a justification for murder, the activities of Yehuda Glick and others like him are a major factor in contributing to the stabbing campaign by Jihadist Muslim Palestinians (cynically whipped up in my opinion by the Palestinian Authority in order to create a "resistance" to what they see as the occupation)

The bad news are, that if you happen to ask palestinian he would probably give you similar statement. This article is in favor of Israeli Settlers. This is how our mind works. I live in Israel and specializing in Conflict Resolution and if you ask me I would like to focus on making a better contact between palestinians and israelis rather than pull them apart. Making them to talk to each other in everyday life might actually create better life in both sides in longer run as they would not fear each other any more.

It is widely reported that the father of the 15 year old killer is VERY PROUD OF WHAT HIS SON HAS DONE.Unfortunately this is the problem."They" done want the "west Bank" They dont want peace.What they want is all of Israel.In other words they simply do not want it to exist. The "disputed" piece of land was part of Jordan until 1967 when,in the course of Jordan,Syria and Egypt attacking Israel,it was "taken" fairly during defence of Israel. Arafat and his successor were offered 98% of what they wanted,but they walked away.(Knowing that they would be probably assassinated were they to accept.

I was born in USSR, I have lived in Israel, Fought for Israel and seen hatred & injustice against jews all my life.What the British BBC is doing is kissing muslim ass, they are scared that the Jihadist will burn their building down, I got news for You , English @zzholes, The will kill & blow You up sooner or later..Wait ,watch...

If you knew better you'd know that Glick is cooperative with tolerant Muslims who seek for coexistence in Jerusalem and the Temple Mt. Dafna's husband invited his Arab neighbor and friend to visit him to comfort him, in spite the fact he's a relative of his wife's murderer. .. but you're so well brain washed you won't even care for all these facts... let BBC continue and poison you and the rest of the world...